Phil Wiggins smashes his fundraising target

FUNDRAISER Phil Wiggins has reached his £4,000 target three months ahead of schedule, but has vowed to keep going.

Phil started the Wiggo 4,000 on his 40th birthday in October last year, to run, swim and cycle 4,000 miles in 12 months, and raise £4,000 for the Alzheimer's Society.

Since then, he has run almost 15 miles a day for nine months, and this week passed the 4,000 mile mark while cycling from London to Paris, but told The Press he was very grateful for the support of the public throughout his challenge.

Phil said: "I cannot tell you how delighted I am.

"When I started my challenge back last October I was unsure I’d be able to do £4,000 or indeed if I could do the 4,000miles. The first three or four months of my challenge were tough, really tough in fact. I was dragging myself out of bed on cold, dark winter mornings to go running and cycling in the rain. On really bad weather days I’d swim two or three miles in the local pool, but overall I was feeling pretty run down and exhausted."

Phil said his fitness levels have improved massively, and while a 10km run was his limit when he first started the challenge, he is now "running half marathons for fun", and has signed up for the Yorkshire Marathon later this year.

He said: "I’ve still got many more events booked in and this was always a year long challenge and so I’m setting myself a new target of 6,000 miles.

"That will be my very last event of The Wiggo 4,000 on October 12. I’ve now reached the point where my body craves exercise and I have to force myself to have a rest day once a week. Someone asked me if I was dreading doing a marathon. It’s completely the opposite, I can’t wait!"

Phil said he was now hoping to raise £8,000 before the end of his challenge, and tomorrow (THURS), will host a charity auction in London, with more fundraising events to come, and thanked everyone who had donated, along with Mark Bassett from Future Lifestyle for nutrition advice, and friends including Craig Hopwood and Richard Hutchinson who joined him for early-morning bike rides.